ABOUT e5

The e5 Keighley Women and Girl’s Empowerment Project is a 4 year project funded by Big Lottery, which aims to empower women and girls to have the confidence and strength to make important decisions that affect their lives and to improve the quality of support they receive.

The project in more detail

e5 is designed to give women and girls the opportunities and tools to be able to improve their lives and the quality of support available to them.

e5 will be holding CSE (Child Sexual Exploitation) & Women’s Forums, including community Conversation Cafes, to create safe spaces for women to explore and take ownership of their issues. Most of these workshops will be focused on increasing the women’s sense of agency and confidence to discuss and solve their own problems.

To facilitate this, e5 will be focusing on the development of social, leadership & life skills so women have the capacity to follow through with their decisions, have the tools to express their rights and to ensure that their immediate needs are met. Due to our longstanding relationship with the local Black and Minority Ethnic and Asian community, part of our work will focus on challenging the community and cultural acceptance of Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) and damaging gender stereotypes.

Women and girls are EDUCATED so that they have an awareness and understanding of gender inequalities and a range of skills, including functional, confidence-building, team-building and leadership skills.

How e5 Came About

Four Keighley-based partners- KAWACC, ICLS, JAMES and Kivca- decided to create the e5 cross-partnership project to address the multi-faceted needs of women and girls in Keighley who are experiencing domestic violence, sexual abuse and/or exploitation and other societal & cultural inequalities.

Here is a brief background to each e5 partner:

KAWACC

Keighley Asian Women and Children’s Centre has always been active in addressing key cultural issues in the community to advocate for the health and wellbeing of local residents and the protection of BME women and girls.

ICLS

Intercultural Communication and Leadership School aims to develop emerging inter-cultural leaders from different communities who can become the future influencers of change. ICLS has worked with many BME (Black & Minority Ethnic) women and girls across the Bradford District, many of whom are now engaged in social action initiatives and leadership positions in their neighbourhoods.

JAMES

Joint Activities & Motor Education Service (JAMES) has over 30 years experience working with disadvantaged, at-risk young people and their families within a community setting. It has a wide spectrum of service delivery, including: prevention programmes, alternative education, training & employment schemes, reparation schemes and complex family work.

CABAD

Community Action Bradford & District ( CABAD) is a well established infrastructure charity that works with a wide range of partners, and has a wealth of experience of working within the voluntary sector and statutory sectors. Our strategic vision is for a stable, influential, and effective local voluntary and community sector, that maintains an ethos of independence, equality and inclusion.

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Our Values

Empowerment: Our approach means that everyone involved with e5, from our staff to our supporters to the women and girls we help, should feel like they can make change happen.

Community Buy In: The community and parents of the children engaging in e5 will be informed and consulted to ensure they have a vested interest in the project. This also ensures the blossoming of a trusting relationship between the community and people providing women and girls with the support they need.

Safe spaces: This women and girls-specific initiative creates a safe space for girls to talk about a variety of gender-related issues and builds trust and openness, which is vital if we are to challenge subjects that are often seen as taboo and blanketed by embedded patriarchal practices.

Gender Mainstreaming: Each strand of our work will incorporate or refer back to gender so women and girls get used to recognising how gender impacts their daily lives, and to increase their understanding of gender inequalities/stereotypes. This will strengthen their ability to make informed decisions.

Cultural sensitivity v Challenge: All work will be sensitive to people’s cultural practices, religious beliefs and worldviews as it is important to engage women and girls on a level that they are able to relate to and in terms that they understand. Nevertheless, it is vital that particular cultural/faith-based perceptions and stereotypes around gender are respectfully challenged in order effect change. Cultural sensitivity could have an impact on the likelihood that a participant comes forward for support and guidance.

DROP US A LINE!

VISIT OUR OFFICE

Address: Marlborough Street, Keighley, West Yorkshire, BD21 3HU

Phone: 01535 667 359

Email: info@e5keighley.com

If you think that you are being affected by domestic violence, sexual abuse/exploitation or low self-esteem, please feel free to contact us via the information above; or alternatively, send us a message using the form on the left.